Sunday, 28 September 2014
April 1990 Pt.2 Anime V magazine.
April was still with
us, and the postman delivered on time. First to drop though the
letterbox was 'Anime V' (New Video Magazine.). It was at a time when
Japanese Animators could shine, Anime was not bound by a 20 minute
kids show on TV networks, new outlets had emerged, the Video Rental
market mostly VHS video tapes, and the collectors market dominated by
the LaserDisc (LD).
[Note:
Anime V started its
monthly print on September 1986 with Volume 9. Gakken also published
the monthly Anime magazine Animedia. You can see the publisher's name
on the spine of the magazines 学習研究社©.]
OVA 1-4 Hades Project
Zeorymer
OVA 1-4 Hades Project
Zeorymer
?
"New Items"
"New Items"
?
Gdleen OVA
?
First OVA of 'Sol Bianca' & 'Hi-Speed Jecy' a little know OVA series, both in my TOP 5.
Fan Artwork.
OVA Of 'What's Mickael?' insightful & Funny about cats and people.
A sealed 8 page section at the back of 'Anime V' the would belong on the top shelf.
?
The one the only 'Devilman' by Go Nagai.
This freedom gave rise
to a plethora of magazines devoted to this home entertainment market
(sadly some publishing runs did not last), with the OAV (Original
Animation Video) or sometimes referred to as OVA ( Original Video
Animation). Animation studios staked their reputation on original
stories, and tested the water with a transfer from a manga or a
popular novella, but not all OVAs came out on all of these formats.
[Note: Other formats
such as S-VHS, VHD (Video High Density a laserdisc technology
from JVC) .]
The example are used to
briefly show you the contents and style in this short pictorial
introduction of the Japanese Anime Magazine Anime V' (New Video Magazine.)
'Anime V' (New Video
Magazine.), First Published in June 1985 by Gakken Co., Ltd. (学習研究社
)
Consisting of 140 pages (including the front & back
covers), #4 April 1990 (Vol. 52).
The first few pages featured are about the OVA 'Hades Project
Zeorymer'.
Well it's the Contents page!
?
?
?
OVA No. 7 of Bubblegum Crisis - "Double
Vision"
?
?
OVA 'Sol Bianca'
OVA 'Blue Sonnet' & ?
The short story 'Takegami' Pages 39-45
OVA Takegami:
Guardian of Darkness
OVA 1-4 Hades Project
Zeorymer
OVA 1-4 Hades Project
Zeorymer
?
I hope that this disply gives a fare overview of what 'Anime V' was all about.
Skip Blog and go to Anime V - May 1990
Sunday, 7 September 2014
April 1990 Pt.1e UK Anime Fandom.
Post Con thoughts...
To get a feel of emotions that poured out from people with this newly discovered sleeping giant called Anime that many of us had grown-up with and had no idea of it's true origins! What follows are snippets from letters from my fellow UK Anime fans that I met at the Convention and corresponded with prier to the Convention.
To get a feel of emotions that poured out from people with this newly discovered sleeping giant called Anime that many of us had grown-up with and had no idea of it's true origins! What follows are snippets from letters from my fellow UK Anime fans that I met at the Convention and corresponded with prier to the Convention.
To
this day they can still invoke memories of how it felt, like a
time wonderment to so many of us.
Paul
Davison wrote on
the 19th.
of April -
“had
a great time without getting drunk, but days later still had a
headache from lack of sleep”
“It
was worth it!”, “And I'd do it again next week!”
“I'm
going to take your advice and write to everyone and everything and
hope I get replies.”
“more
than ever I'm going to try and promote Anime and Anime based games in
our area. I'm going to make a poster asking for Anime and Manga fans
to contact me (if only for a chat, it's a start.).”
“seeing
'Macross: Do you remember Love' just blew my mind, and brought home
to me what is my favourite Anime”
“Its
been good to find someone else who likes the same thing and I hope
some kind of Organisation can be set-up in Britain soon for the likes
of you and me”
R.
Poffley wrote in April
1990.
“looking
back at EastCon there were quite a few people at EastCon who were
interested in Anime there but, as you say most had been fans for a
while and not many “new” fans at all.”
“Helen
had been approached to do an Anime Programme for the WorldCon in the
Netherlands in August.”
“I
think that the Anime programme was one of the better attended events
over the convention and that bodes well for Anime in this Country.”
[Note:
The get together on the Sunday was all about making friends and
exchanging bits of information, I was even able to introduced Paul to Ashley, even though
Paul had read Mektek.]
[Note:
Jim Swallow wrote to Jay Felton telling her that EastCon'90 had about
700 attendees. - This was the big national Science Fiction for the
UK]
[Amendment\update "there were about 700 attendees, although the official convention membership count is on record, though without supporting sources, as 1,100 (Anon. n.d. “Eastercon”). The largest audience for the video screening room was considerably in excess of the fire limit of 450; it was usually about a third to half full, but some audiences were in single figures. As I recall, three screenings packed the room: Akira (Katsuhiro Ōtomo, 1988), Urotsukidōji (Wandering Kid, Hideki Takayama, 1989) and Robot Carnival (Katsuhiro Ōtomo et al., 1987).
The majority of attendees were probably novelty-seekers, who made no further attempt to engage with Japanese animation after the event." ( McCarthy - Re-creating Anime History: The Development of British Anime Fandom and the Developing Comprehension of Anime History as a Transnational Phenomenon. posted on July 2019) wrote about the "Distortion of the historical record". Facebook re-post 5th March 2020 ]
[Amendment\update "there were about 700 attendees, although the official convention membership count is on record, though without supporting sources, as 1,100 (Anon. n.d. “Eastercon”). The largest audience for the video screening room was considerably in excess of the fire limit of 450; it was usually about a third to half full, but some audiences were in single figures. As I recall, three screenings packed the room: Akira (Katsuhiro Ōtomo, 1988), Urotsukidōji (Wandering Kid, Hideki Takayama, 1989) and Robot Carnival (Katsuhiro Ōtomo et al., 1987).
The majority of attendees were probably novelty-seekers, who made no further attempt to engage with Japanese animation after the event." ( McCarthy - Re-creating Anime History: The Development of British Anime Fandom and the Developing Comprehension of Anime History as a Transnational Phenomenon. posted on July 2019) wrote about the "Distortion of the historical record". Facebook re-post 5th March 2020 ]
[NOTE:
“that
many of us had grown-up with and had no idea of it's true origins!”
I was lucky enough to live in Australia from the late 60's to the
late 70's and as a kid I loved cartoons, and I remembered seeing
'Kimba the White Lion', 'Speed Racer', 'Marine Boy' , and 'The
Amazing 3', so from this early age Japanese animation styles were
imprinted on me. Later I lived in Spain for a whole year and was
introduced to such cartoons like 'Mazinger Z', 'Battle of the
Planets' more imprints.]
[NOTE:
I will endeavour to contact as many attendees for their
recollections of that day as I can.]
Helen McCarthy – Re-creating Anime History: The Development of British Anime Fandom and the Developing Comprehension of Anime History as a Transnational Phenomenon.
To
be continued.......... When more comes to light!
Monday, 1 September 2014
April 1990 Pt.1d UK Anime Fandom.
I
can not after all this time (24 years have passed by) remember all
those who where there at the meeting, only a few stick in my mind,
luckily some of my letters from fellow UK Anime fans that have
survived to this day to fill the gaps in my memory.
EASTCON
'90 meeting attendees:-
Ashley
(editor of Mektek), Carlo Bernhardi (Myself), Paul Davison, Ian
(friend of Paul Davison), Keith (friend of Paul Davison), Helen
McCarthy, Richard
Poffley, and Jim
Swallow (James Swallow).
Helen
McCarthy would like to add;
Peter
J. Evans, Peter Evans, Harry Payne, Wil Overton, David Rowe, and
Jonathan Weeks, to the list of attendees.
[NOTE:
I will endeavour to contact as many attendees for their
recollections of that day as I can.]
Jonathan Weeks Wrote "I never attended any Eastercons. My first contact with fandom was Animeday (1991)" (Posted on FB messenger march 2020).
Jonathan Weeks Wrote "I never attended any Eastercons. My first contact with fandom was Animeday (1991)" (Posted on FB messenger march 2020).
DATE to be confirmed June\July 1990 (as Helen's first house meeting is Saturday 21st. July)
What
follows is passages from the Post EasterCon'90 Contact news-sheet
(from
Helen McCarthy & Steve Kyte), I hope these last few Blog pages
have given you all an insight into what it was like and how it all
started.
“KONNICHIWA!
Japanese
for "hello, how are you," it seems a good way to start.
You're
getting this because you were at the EASTCON 90 bar meeting or else
have written to me to express an interest in Anime Fandom in the UK,
and since it didn't really exist before EASTCON you're part of the
setup crew!
It
was nice to meet so many Anime enthusiasts at the con and I'm sorry I
didn't have a chance to talk more to everyone running most of a
programme stream plus the Art Show is a silly thing to do and doesn't
leave you time for much else but hope to remedy this in the next few
months. As I said at the con.
I
think the 'best way we can ensure the wider circulation of Anime
tapes and easier contact between fans is to do a newsletter and
fanzine which will at least provide a point of contact to start with,
and to try and set up viewing sessions in as many areas as possible.
Please
get in touch with. others on the attached list and please set up
local showings if you can.
Let
us have any Information for future issues of the news-sheet -
addresses~. contacts, anything you think would be of interest to
other fans.
And
now for the news from ANIME UK.....
[NOTE:
Helen & Steve included an open house for viewings, as many of us
did in those days. People all huddled around a small TV in a
front-room or Bed-room.]
SATURDAY
21ST JULY - 2 p.m. NIGHT ON THE GALACTIC RAILROAD; PATLABOR; other
items. Mostly in Japanese.
SUNDAY
5TH AUGUST - 2 p.m. BUBBLEGUM CRISIS: THE FIVE STAR STORIES, other
items. Mostly in Japanese.
SATURDAY
29TH SEPTEMBER - 2 p.m. Programme TBA depending what we get in the
interim.
We
have only a certain amount of oxygen in the living-room so we CAN'T
take more than ten people per showing. If you want to come please
phone or write right away and book your airspace!
ANYONE
ELSE WHO CAN HOLD SHOWINGS PLEASE LET ME KNOW SO I CAN PUBLISH
DETAILS.
PLEASE WRITE on anything anime related - this newsletter needs your input!!!!!!!
[There was a contact List including 27 UK individuals...]
[NOTE: I will endeavour to contact as many attendees for their recollections of that day as I can.]
To
be continued..........Post Con thoughts...
Sunday, 31 August 2014
April 1990 Pt.1c UK Anime Fandom.
My
own recollections Of EastCon'90 are of the late night screenings that had seen the
'word' spread, so much so that there was standing room only. So many
wide-eyed people were willing to watch this fresh animation from
Japan without narration, or sub-tiles, it was intoxicating!
Film
cinematography's camera techniques are liberally used, the long shot,
the panning & tilting shots, Dolly & tracking shots, and the
close-up, as well as camera\video special effects of split screen,
and circling shots that just blew people away and all well before the
matrix had an array of cameras to do its time-slice photography of
circling around a person (all done by hand with hand-painted cels
numbering from 10 to 24 0r 25 or sometime 30 frames per second)!
There
was disbelief also that the humble cartoon could display depictions
of violence in a realistic manner (NO more of the ubiquitous Tom &
Jerry frying-pan in the face, that you just shrugged off), and in
horrific detail that would rival any live-action horror movie that
went before!
[Note: I do vividly
remember people so shocked and ill at ease that they left the
auditorium in one of the very late-night adult showings of an episode
of “Wondering kid” (you may know the edited together and cut
film, under the title “Urotsukidōji”) in it's now legendary
tentacle scene.]
In
contrast Japanese Animation had a “U” certificate, as Kids
Cartoons straight to video in the UK, and the MY-TV label did turn up
a t EastCon'90, - recently Helen McCarthy was able to fill me on the
details surrounding this company's appearance at the convention.
“MY-TV
was a label part-owned by one of the directors at the music and video
company I worked for at the time. They
re-badged and distributed US material, mostly from Harmony Gold,
which is how the UK got releases of some great Anime like Birth and
Crushers so early on - short-lived but still there.
I
just told my boss about the event and he decided they should show up
and try to sell a few tapes.
He
had no idea there was a market for "this Japanese kids' stuff"
outside the children's market.
Of
course this was before Island world/Manga Entertainment started the
fifteening of the industry.”
[Note:
INTERVISION VIDEO LIMITED was the parent company of MY-TV, the
Editing, rewriting\dubbing, and renaming had been done by US company
Harmony Gold, and I think video (VHS) distribution licensed though
Streamline Pictures. ]
Once
Upon a Time (VHS release 1987,1988,1989)
Original
Title 'Windaria' (1986)
Crushers (VHS release1987,1988,1989)
Original
Title 'Crusher Joe: The Movie' (1983)
Original
Title 'X-Bomber'
(1980)
[UK
DVD Box-Set released in 2009]
[NOTE: World
of the Talisman (VHS release1987,1988,1989) Original
Title ' Birth' (1985)]
To
be continued..........
Sunday, 17 August 2014
April 1990 Pt.1b UK Anime Fandom.
A
look back at EastCon '90. (the Pen-Pals network meets up),
The
content that forms this page is not just my own recollections but
excerpts from a smattering of surviving letters from fellow UK Anime
fans that have survived from around that time both pre and post
Convention, and that of my own memories of that time.
As
I write, I am finding it difficult to convey the newness and
excitement of a medium of animation from Japan that was not just
Kids' Saturday morning cartoon shows, that was free to aim at many
different age groups for its audience, as well as the masses of
genres that live-action film and TV used, it was so astonishing (in
modern language it was “F*?%ing Awesome”).
I
had only known of others' existence by writing into Canadian &
American Magazines, Ads in Comic-books, and JapAnimation fan Clubs,
and by joining these Fan Clubs you got to find other fans with new
and exciting interest in your country and the more established fans
from Canada & America and those outside the US.
By
April 1990 I was only in contact with a few (about Six)
UK fans by post.
And
so for many this was the First meeting of Japanese Animation Fans,
that up until that point had only been Pen-pals, or thought that they
were alone in their interest!
EastCon
'90 (April
14th & 15th 1990) was
my first Convention, my first Science Fiction Convention and my first
introduction to Con-going. The Registration was the princely sum of
£25, and after you registered, a hotel booking form was sent out (by
post), you of course were free to choose any accommodation in
Liverpool, and the more Anime fans that booked and informed the
organisers that it was Anime that drew you to the Con the more time
was allotted to the media section and the showing of more Anime (as
of mid February it was almost half the entire slot for TV/Films for
the weekend of the Convention).
Only
months later I would find out that two of the members of Anime
Hasshin (an American Anime & manga fan-club) had contributed
almost 50 hours to the library of Anime that was shown. At the time
I did put out flyers for Anime Hasshin at EastCon 90, and proudly
wore the tin badge of Anime Hasshin at the Convention hoping to boost
the Fandom and bring people together!
Many
fans had sought out Anime (then widely known as Japanimation) from a
multitude of interests, the depiction of Power-Armour battle suits
and giant robot war machines in science Fiction (fanned from the
craze of Robot model kits in the mid1980's), from the heritage of
dubbed popular cartoon shows shown in the 70's ('Kimba the white
Lion', 'Marine Boy', 'Speed racer'), people wanted to find more.
More
fans at that time had a keen interest in Japanese culture even their
Business practises and acumen, as well as their social structure and
etiquette, their religions, beliefs
of
Shinto
and Buddhism and how they fitted in to daily life, the Japanese
school system which helped to produce such a high national literary
rate, and a few of us were transfixed with the fascination of the
Samurai and the historical period of the Shogunate! Dipping in to
Japanese popular culture you could not fail to notice that Manga was
every where, and read by Children, Teenagers, and Adults alike!
NOTE: Con booklet, and paperwork provided by P. Davison (Feb 2021).
NOTE: Con booklet articles written by Helen McCarthy, Harry Payne, and information by EastCon committee members, Anime (robots) Artworks by Steve Kyte.
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